50-year-old Assamese farmer Amar Dewri on Tuesday received Rs 5,000 and a certificate from the Northeast Frontier Railway for averting an accident by stopping a goods train before it could move over a fractured track.
On December 7 last year, Dewri noticed a big rail crack while crossing the track between Sonuabari and Dharamtul stations, about 85 km east of Guwahati. He waited on the arterial track — the lifeline for eastern Assam, Nagaland and southern Arunachal Pradesh — for trains from either side. He then started waving his arms to stop a goods train which was the first train he saw approaching.
The locomotive pilots noticed him and applied emergency brakes and managed to stop the train a few metres from the cracked line.
Movement of trains was stopped temporarily that day for technicians to repair the track damage.
Assamese farmer Amar Dewri’s alertness earned him Rs 5,000 and a certificate from NFR Additional General Manager Lokesh Narayan.
NFR officials also awarded Probir Sonowal and Vikesh Kumar, loco pilot and assistant loco pilot of the goods train for stopping the train in time. They were awarded Rs 2,500 each along with a certificate.